Centennial IPA | Founders Brewing Company

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s: whew... that smells like beer! not a lot of complexity o the nose for me... just hop sauce...

t: wow, there's a lot going on! starts out really sweet with honey and fleshy fruit but transitions into a soft bitter peach pit that lingers for a while with some other magic going on in between... almost like a camp fire... maybe there's something wrong with my nose cause I don't see how none of these crazy flavores are coming out in the smell? nice beer!

mf: light carbonation, taste lingers for a little longer than i prefer. A feels a little thin but tastes thick (if that makes any sense). Not a bad thing... actually kind of interesting sensation.

I can see this being a frequent evening after work beer for when I only plan to have 1 or 2.

More User Reviews:

Appearance – Beautiful, dark orange and hazy in color with an awesome, slightly-tanned head that left large pits on top of the liquid and lace along the sides. I literally drooled on my keyboard staring at this wonderful-looking IPA.

Smell – Big but very smooth hops with a serious malty compliment. This is exceptionally balanced with a resiny hop bias. The floral notes and mild caramel sweetness worked well together, too.

Taste – Anybody interested in a little butter? This IPA is just dripping with it. All the aromatic notes from the nose kicked it up for the taste. Big hops, strong malts, huge butter, and a slightly bitter finish. Wow!

Mouthfeel – So smooth it just slides down the esophagus. How they got all these big flavors to go down so well I’ll never know.

Drinkability – This is like none other I’ve had before, and it is my 39th IPA review on the site. What a treat!

Comments – OldFroth has a way of sniffing out the exceptional, and his senses certainly proved accurate here.

Update – It’s been over six years since OldFroth sent me my first bottle of this beauty and I ran into it at a beverage barn in Ohio so thought I’d give it another whirl. It’s as gorgeous and smooth as I remember it with an amazing texture and a wonderful sense of buttery malt/hop fusion.

Creamy looking head, hazed from the hops with a tawny hue. Soft hop oil aroma, very fragrant. Clean but pungent citric hop character, warming white pepper alcohol with layers of fruitiness and toasted caramel middle to end. Super drinkable even @ 7.2% abv. This is what American IPAs are all about.

Into a standard pint glass, Centennial pours a pretty dark golden-amber with a one finger off-white head. I don't see all that many carbonation bubbles, but what I do see move at a middling pace upward. Lacing on the glass is fair- a little blotchy and curvy.

The smell brings Founders' house smell, fresh, sweet citrus hops, grassy-ness, floral notes, and nice caramel and biscuit malt aromas to my nose. I've always thought that Centennial is one of the more balanced IPAs, while still retaining a solid hop presence.

That malt to hop balance evident in the smell translates almost directly to the taste. Certainly, citrus and floral hops lead the flavor profile, but a great caramel and biscuit taste from the malts rounds out the flavor well. The component ingredients never really fall out of equilirium throughout the sip; even the finish is has a nice earthy, hoppy, dry quality to it, but a malt sweetness remains through the aftertaste.

The mouthfeel has quite a full feel for an IPA... probably on the heavier side of medium. However, a crisp, never-overpowering bite from the citrus and floral hops balances out the fullness of the body for a satisfying feel. Carbonation levels are pretty low, but it fits the body of the beer.

Centennial is one of the more drinkable IPAs I've had. I love how it is balanced without sacrificing a strong hop character, and I find it to be more sessionable than other IPAs. Truly a fine-drinking India Pale Ale.

While new wave brewers dick around with mango/passionfruit/tropical juice bomb bullshit, there's this: piney, citrusy, and a brown sugar malt base. This is a delicious IPA that puts a lot of the nouveau IPA stuff to shame. It shared that interesting brown sugar note with some other wonderful brews, notably stuff like Bear Republic's Hop Rod Rye or Red Rocket. Anyway, super satisfying drink that I hope never makes way for the some tropical fruit salad IPA that's so du jour these days.

Excellent orange colored pour with 1/2" of white head and nice lace down the side of the glass. Aroma dropped those citrus, tangerine and grapefruit notes.

Taste is solid, wave after wave of the Centennial hop. Ages nicely compared to proprietary hops, this will stand strong still 100 days after bottling. Good format, good price. Pretty standard in its approach, does everything well above average. Not quite world class, but definitely one of the better regional ipas made.

This was my go to IPA back in Michigan. I could drink this pretty much everyday and enjoy every sip. I have been enjoying other IPA's down in Arizona but find it hard to taste one that comes close to this as a great everyday beer.

As far as IPA's go, this one is a bit more balanced than most, having many moments throughout the session where it's indistinguishable whether the bold citrus hops gain precidence or the medium caramel malt govern.

The single 'Centennnial' hopped beer has a tremendous hop fragrance, flavor, and bitterness. A huge burst of fresh oranges, perfume, and candy-crusted confectionate malt aroma swirl into a complex and whimsical aura above the glass.

The look almost doesn't matter because of the intesity of aroma and flavor. But the beer has a simple and staple look with a medium golden-sunkist color, good head formation, fair retention, and a mild dry-hop haze. It looks like a lot of other IPA's.

Although the look is quite average, the outstanding aroma transfers to an outstanding taste. Juicy ripe orange-hop flavor set the tone as secondary notes of grapefruit, pineapple, appricot, and mangos dance on the periphery. Quite tropical fruit dominant with the hops and sublte esters. Confectionate sweetness gives a light caramel, powdered sugar, sweetheart candies that seem to evaporate in the mouth. The balance is both bold and delicate. No frills, just greatness.

The body is exquisitly drinkable with a lightly efforvescent tone that is effortless to drink. Initially creamy and rounded, but whisps away with a sweetly powdery, dry texture. Bittered late for great balance, and perhaps a little extra kick with an orange zest, grapefruit acidity.

Generally the single-hop beers are a great exercise in understanding hop flavor but usually suffer with a lack of depth and complexity. This beer does no such thing. An abundance of fruit juices, acidity, and variety offers a new flavor in every sip. IPA's just don't get better.

I'm not a big fan of IPAs but picked this up curious to see founders take on the style. What a pleasant surprise, this is the best IPA I've had yet. Malty goodness with a strong hop presence that isn't at all overwhelming like many of the style. Phenomenal.

Strong, delicious amber from the holy teats of Freya. Could be a little more golden and a little crisper but a damn fine IPA for all occasions; comparable to Two Hearted Ale but slightly stiffer and often cheaper.

Usually I don't take the reviews to serious but I feel Founders beers deserve real review. Pours a nice amber caramel color with a light head. Smells of roasted caramel, maybe a little burnt maple syrup and a mild hop undertone. Upfront the taste is a rich roasted oak, dark roasted malt and a amber mild ale. Then the hops hit and take you back to what the beer is an IPA. I'm working my way into IPAs and I've got to say this is easily my favorite so far. It's not the basic plain IPA I've found most are. I would highly recommend this for someone wanting to relax around and enjoy a complexed beer. It looses some of it's flare as it gets hot tho.

DATE: April 29, 2018... OCCASION: A nice baseball weekend ends with the Cavs eliminating the Pacers--and a beer that I have meant to experience for a while... GLASSWARE: Corsendonk tulip... pours a dark amber body animated by a swirling cascade of effervescence... a three-fingered head stands proudly as a thick mesa centering an even screen of white bubbles... a real looker.... that textbook Centennial aroma--pineapple, mango, lemon, orange amid a bouquet of spring flowers--mingles with mild spices to balance dankness and fresh-baked bread in an IPA that invites the first sip quickly... and that sip is grounded in a thick, almost syrupy draw, coating the throat thoroughly... creamy and smooth--worth savoring... at 65 IBUs, not the tooth-ringer as expected... still, a drinkable, mild 7.2% ABV... the flavor profile is sweet, almost like a sugary brown, with a thicker blanket of malts grounding the aromatic hops... I get some lemon, grapefruit, and honeysuckle... some boozy funk also adds a dimension that makes this chewy... as Founders go, another winner, and one that allows the drinker to indulge in a singular hop's offering... sticky sweet, and one I will seek in fifteen-can packages in the near future...

Pour is a deep copper with a two finger fluffy white head. Aroma is piney, citrus hops with some malt sweetness. Taste follows with pine, citrus, resinous flavors balanced by a touch of malt sweetness and biscuity malt. Mouthfeel is medium and very drinkable. Overall an earthy ipa with balance.

From the 12 fl. is. bottle that was bottled 11/17/17. Sampled on December 27, 2017.

It is a very nice looking beer with its orange-amber clear appearance and foamy off-white head.

The aroma brings out an inviting, teasing orange or tangerine fruitiness with a kind of sweet white bread undercurrent.

The body is in the medium range. Comfortable on my tongue.

I get a boastful orange and tangerine presence in the flavor too as I did in the aroma. A kind of mild sweetness leading to a moderate bitterness to end. It's the kind of modern, hoppy IPA I could drink often. I'm surprised it took me this long to review it.

T: First impression is that this is not overly hoppy or malty, very balanced. Citrus, floral, some pine and resin, hit of hop bitterness, finish is dry with a hint of grapefruit peel in the aftertaste.

M: Medium mouthfeel with a dry finish.

O: A very drinkable IPA, balanced, the ABV is well-hidden in the beer. A solid IPA that I would reach for again. I would like it a little fresher but at 5 weeks its holding up pretty well.

This is almost everything I want and expect in an ipa. Crystal clear copper body with big white head of foam that leaves excellent lacing behind. Smell is the week point if any... mostly pine with some malty back. Taste reminds you quickly that it's an ipa but reassures that it's definitely NOT a hop bomb. Well rounded with some caramel malt dry bread and then pine with bitter on the tail. Feel started pretty sticky but thinned out. Not my favorite style but I'd drink this one again. The higher abv is also well hidden.

Hazy marmalade orange. Thin frothy head.
Rich aroma of orange and earthy resinous pine.
A really good balance of citrus hops with sweet malt and a nice bitter bite at the finish.
Soft feel. Medium body. Alcohol is very well hidden.
Very enjoyable.

This is quickly becoming a go-to beer for me when I can find it. Unlike many other IPAs, it pulls off a strong but balanced flavor profile.

The reddish copper color isn't much to speak of, but the aromas hit hard right away: so much pine it's almost as good as smelling trees; caramel; orange and tangerine. This is roughly the same order in which I found the tastes to hit me as well: resiny hops; caramel, brown sugar, and biscuit malts; a light and zesty bitterness. Nice oily, but smooth and balanced feel.

This is not just a medium-intensity IPA. It suggests a strong double, a citrus zinger, and a Sam Adams all in one glass. The interplay is quite tasty, not to mention impressive for what I assume is a single-hopped brew. And somehow, on top of all this, it's dinstictive.

Not your panty-waste micro/macro brewery IPA catering to those who wish to be "stylish" by drinking an IPA, but a full-bodied India Pale Ale with a hoppy kick and the ABV to match. Easy on the nose and biting on the tongue with cloudy disposition. All in all a very good brew.

Great color out of the growler. I found this at a rsndom liquor store on tap. I was pretty excited to find this on tap. Unfortunately the lady pouring it didn't seem to know how to get it in the growler. I got it home and it was pretty flat. The smell was good and it did taste great. I just wish it wasn't flat

12oz bottled 5/22/17 poured into a Spiegelau IPA glass at fridge temp 7.2% ABV. The beer pours a bright reddish copper color with abundant khaki head and good lacing. Lacing coats the glass and a full film of head remains as the beer is consumed. The aroma is old school pine and citrus mixed but a bit muted by modern IPA standards. The taste is malt sweetness up front with citrus and pine coming in for the finish. Mouthfeel is light to medium bodied with plentiful carbonation. The finish is mostly dry with a little hop oil & residual malt sweetness keeping it from being totally dry. Overall, very good. This is a beautiful, easy drinking beer.